One Long Fall
by DarthMomo
Summary: Meowth and Charmander have fallen into a pitfall that Team Rocket, Meowth included, completely forgot about. Stuck down there with no one knowing where they are, what are they to do? Oh no, it looks like a cloudy night...


"W-w-wait a second!" Meowth cried out, holding his paws up in surrender. "I can't fight. You win," He quickly added. He had seen the twerp's pokémon fight before, he knew he couldn't win. Maybe if he got an advantage, such as an environmental bonus he could manipulate it to his benefit... but in a square fight, he was doomed for sure.

"_What do you mean you can't fight?_" Charmander asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously, just waiting for whatever trick the other had up his sleeve.

With a nervous laugh, Meowth sat down on the soft, dirt ground. "Well, I guess I would jus' say I'm more the... intellectual type, y'know?" Seeing Charmander sit down as well and loosen up a little, Meowth relaxed some. For a moment there he thought he was toast.

"_... Do you know where we are?_" Charmander asked hopefully, looking around. They were in a pit of some sort, it seemed man made.

"Heh heh... Actually I do... We made this pit to trap yer master a while back. It got completely forgot about though, I guess until now." He remembered back to a few months ago when they had dug this up.

"_If you guys made it, and your trapped down here, then they'll come back and find you, right? I'll be found? I can get back to Ash?"_

"Woooah, slow down. We... we probably have a lot of time stuck down here. Don't waste all the conversation in one go," Meowth said, motioning with his paws for his enemy to calm down.

"_Do you think Ash knows-_"

"The twerps know squat. Even Team Rocket will have a tough time finding us. If I forgot it was here, I'm sure they did."

Charmander's gazed down sadly, his tail dimming slightly as he sighed disheartened by the other's frank pessimism.

"Wait, don't do that! The light's nice down here!"

Charmander looked up curiously at the other, then realized he meant his tail. "_Oh, um, sorry..._" He apologized tepidly, willing his tail to burn a little brighter. He stared up to the top of the hole, just barely able to make out some stars. Charmander worriedly noted it was getting cloudy. If Ash didn't find him soon, and it rained, what would he do? He would rather be caught by Team Rocket then a deep trench filling with rain.

"It _does_ look like rain," Meowth agreed, telling from the other's perturbed expression what had come to his mind. Seeing the other get further upset, he quickly added," But, ah, I'm sure we'll be found long before then... So don't worry..."

"_... You think so?_"

With a quite practiced ability, Meowth easily lied," Yeah. I'd bet a pretty penny on it." While it sounded pretty convincing, it was far, far from the truth. When he said that Jessie and James had probably forgot all about this pit, he wasn't kidding. It would take about three Chansys' luck to find them in under a day or two.

Charmander smiled softly at the other as he heard that good news. A meowth confidant enough to bet something shiny? Laying down and curling up Charmander continued to look at Meowth. Though, now his gentle gaze was more curious then anything else.

"Why you lookin' at me like that? It's creeping me out."

Charmander thought about his answer for a second, and decided to just ask what he wanted to know. "_Why do you talk funny?_"

"You gotta' problem with da' way I talk?" Meowth asked, obviously affronted.

"_N-no, it's just, you talk like a human... It's kind of weird- but I don't mean anything by it!_"

Crossing his arms, Meowth looked away sourly, and muttered," Just anotha' censorious blockhead."

"_I- I really didn't mean anything by it, I was just wonder-_"

"Keep wondering."

Charmander was surprised by the curt response, having obviously stuck a nerve. "_Sorry..._" He curled up tighter, feeling a cold chill in the dampening air, though attributing some of the coldness to Meowth's abrupt change of demeanor.

The cat pokémon exhaled slowly, staring at a random pebble. "It doesn't matter," He lied, though this time it was much less convincing.

"_Okay... So what do you want to talk about?_"

Meowth looked blankly at the other. "Why should we chat? We're enemies."

"_hmm..._"

Meowth flinched as a frigid drop of water made a small 'plip' on his koban and slid down to his forehead. He reflexively held out a hand and looked up at the sky. He grimaced, thinking of the Charmander he was holding company with. Not that he should care about a pokémon that belonged to the _twerp_, but sympathy went out anyways.

"_I should be fine... So long as it doesn't rain too hard..._" Charmander said quietly, his voice sounding like he was trying to console himself.

"That's good. N-not that I particularly care for you, of course." Meowth looked back towards Charmander, noting the pokémon's calmness. Well, at least he was keeping a cool head about himself.

Silence prevailed over the two pokémon, both keeping watch on the threatening weather. The rain picked up steadily, causing some evident unrest in the fire pokémon. He stood up, grabbing his tail to protect it's vital flame. The orange flame sizzled lightly as a drop of water landed in it. "_If my flame goes out, I'll die!_" Was whimpered, Charmander looking up in fear at the impending downfall.

Truth to be told, even leaving out Charmander, the rain was getting old fast to Meowth. It was already pooling at the bottom of pit, slowly making its way to getting Meowth's feet entirely wet.

He watched Charmander hunched over, trying desperately to cover his flame. "Uh- um... Do you know dig?" He asked quickly, hoping his skill of problem solving could help.

Charmander shook his head 'no'. He spared a glance at Meowth, surprise shining in his dark blue-green eyes. "_I thought we were enemies..._"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what I said," He spat quickly, extending his claws and slashing at the rocky wall.

"_... What are you doing?_" Charmander cringed at some rain getting through his barrier and waved his tail wildly, trying to make the flame larger and boil off the rain hitting it.

Grunting as he continued his seemingly futile attempts to break into the thick ground with scratch. It was his best move though, and he had to try. This was just a death pit for Charmander if he didn't. "Aauugh! Watch where you're flailing that thing!" He cried out in pain as a burning sensation started biting into his shoulder blade. He momentarily paused his busy work, clutching his shoulder and patting out the fur that was still burning. Luckily, the skin itself was only mildly singed, but it hurt like hell.

His stats were low, and he wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't fight. His attacks were weak, and his defense left much to be desired. It was his ingenuity that saved his fur over and over.

"_I'm sorry, I didn't try to get you_," Charmander apologized, feeling bad at hurting his, dare he say it? Friend?

"It's okay, it's okay... Just help me make a... dugout of sorts, something that will keep the rain off ya'," he said dismissively, still hacking and slashing at the wall, but not making much of a dent.

"_If you can keep my tail dry, I think I can do it_," He said, a look of confidence in his eyes.

Looking back, Meowth nodded. He was getting no where fast. Swapping places, he tentatively grabbed Charmander's tail, leaning over it as close as could without burning himself. He grimaced, this was like holding a candle to your paw to find out juuuust how long you could hold it there. Except this was very different. Much hotter and larger, and oh so much more important.

Meowth felt like a drowned kitten, water soaked all the way to the bone. He shivered, frozen by the rain. He saw little chunks of rock flying from the wall as Charmander used scratch repeatedly. A little resentfully, he noticed how with the same move he'd been using, Charmander was doing far more damage.

After a few minutes, the fire pokémon halted his vicious clawing, panting and whispering," _I can't do any more..._" The flame on his tail dwindled weakly, showing just how tired he was.

The indent on the wall was much deeper then before, at least four inches in the deepest part, but that wasn't enough to gain shelter. Handing the precious flame back to its owner, Meowth said," Alright, stand back. Here goes nothing!"

Scooping up water off the ground and splashing it repeatedly at the object of his determination, he used fury swipes on the wet, almost muddy, ground. It took a few minutes, but eventually he was able to burrow in a very small amount. "Hurry, take shelter!"

His command was followed quickly, the other taking refuge in the tiny cavern. Charmander watched Meowth busily collect the debris from their excavate and form a five inch tall barricade on the ground. "_What's that for?_"

"Well I don't figure the rain will let up anytime soon. Not with my luck," Meowth stuttered through chattering teeth. Already, two inches of water sat on the ground and a torrential downpour fell from the skies, soaking the cat through and through. Satisfied at his handiwork, abandoned the small cutout in the hole and paced back and fourth, rubbing his arms in a hopeless attempt to keep warm.

"_Thank you Meowth... You saved my life._"

"I didn't do it for you."

"_Then what did you do it for...?_"

"Umm," Meowth looked to the sky for answers. He decided that was a bad idea, as his eyes just got filled with water. "Uh, when Jessie n' James find me, I'll have a nice, new pokémon to present them with."

Charmander tilted his head in question as he stared at the other, wondering why it just seemed like that wasn't the real reason. "_Well thanks anyways. I really appreciate it._"

Nodding abstractedly, Meowth continued to pace and attempt to warm him self, even if only in the slightest. He was right, the rain wasn't letting up, just getting worse. The dreaded wet substance poured in from the sides, and pelted down like a trigger happy god with bullet seed.

"_Come in with me_," Charmander offered, feeling bad at seeing his poor helper shivering. "_I'm warm_." Meowth had done a lot to save his life, and as he pointed out earlier, he had no reason to. They were supposed to be enemies. For some reason, Charmander just didn't fully believe it was truly done out of the badness of his heart. Meowth had more reason than just presenting him to Team Rocket.

Meowth shook his head and replied," I have b-better things t-ta do than snuggle up wit' a twerp's p-pokémon."

With a frown, Charmander protested," _But you look like you're freezing. Let me help you, you just helped me._"

The cat pokémon stubbornly sat down, shuddering as the base of his tail submerged in icy water. "Nah, I'm g-good out here," Meowth assured the other. Mud pulled at his fur just to prove him wrong as he shivered and tried to resist the temptation of cuddling up with the other. Leaning back against the wall, one good thing came. The freezing, wet rock soothed his burn that still clawed viciously at his back.

"_If you change your mind..._"

"I'll b-b-be sure t-t-ta keep it in m-mind-d, 'kay? S-s-so stop b-b-both-th-therin," Meowth couldn't even finish his sentence he was so cold, so he just stopped talking. He curled up tightly, trying to keep the cold wetness out, but failing miserably. He _hated_ water when it wasn't his choice to get wet.

Charmander watched sadly, wishing there was something he could say or do to change his mind. What if Meowth caught hypothermia or something? The pokémon saved his life, but refused to accept his help...

It didn't take much longer for Meowth's obstinacy to wear off, him padding over and sullenly standing in front of the tiny entrance and silently begging to come in.

Joyously, Charmander said," _Of course you can._" He watched amused as the other pokémon hesitantly entered the small space, they only had an inch between them.

Meowth was pleasantly surprised by how warm the slightly cramped shelter was. Residual dampness still clung to the ground that had been with over an inch of water on it though, and being closest to the mouth of their sanctuary, he kept getting wet from droplets of rain seeking their way in. However, he could hardly notice, the tunnel heating up to at least above room temperature (muuuch warmer then being directly in the target zone of the rain).

Meowth sighed, looking away from Charmander and asking," You wanted to know why I talk like a human right?" He saw the other nod in his peripheral."When I was young, I used to live far away, ya' might have heard of it. Hollywood. Well, anyways, I saw the most beautiful meowth in my whole life there. Her name was Meowzie, but when I talked to her, she wanted nothing ta do with me. She said she preferred to be with rich humans.

That didn't keep me down though, I really wanted to be with her. So I studied hard for a very, very long time. It hurt to start walking on two legs, and left me hungry because I couldn't steal food fast enough anymore. Learning to talk like a human is the hardest thing I've ever done, they have so many complicated words and sounds... When I finally mastered both though, I was confident, over confident I guess, and went ta talk to Meowzie... She said I was even worse then before... Now I was a freak..." Meowth was barely aware that he had just spilled the entire story of Meowzie until a few seconds after it was over. Embarrassed, he refused to look in the other's direction.

"_I don't think you're a freak. You're nice_," Charmander decided, much to Meowth's chagrin.

"I- I'm not nice! I'm a part of Team Rocket, we're cool and bad-" He broke off in a startled yowl as Charmander wrapped small arms around Meowth's midsection.

With a small yawn, Charmander rested his head against the other's chest. "_I'm tired_," He said as he snuggled with the other. Meowth squirmed and tried prying the other off, but stopped when Charmander gave a small, annoyed 'humpf' of smoke.

Meowth sighed and gave in, cuddling with his warm companion.

Light shone down into the pit as Meowth opened his eyes. "Mmmnn... Morning already...?" He complained under his breath, not wanting to wake up. His fur was matted with mud from last night and puffed out from having dried funny, but at least he was warm. Wait, it had been raining all night, and he was trapped in a swimming pool practically... Why was he so warm...?

He freaked out as he realized he was snuggling with the enemy. Pushing Charmander away as quickly as meowthly possible, he darted to the other side and extended his claws to appear as unfriendly as he could. Him nice to a pokémon who didn't work for Team Rocket? Never!

"_Wha- What was that...?_" Charmander asked groggily, looking up from his corner. "_Oh... I'm stuck down here_," Charmander remembered out loud. His stomach growling, he said,"_ I'm hungry. You?_"

"I'm hungry all right. I haven't eaten in two days, and all I ate then was a small breakfast. You probably ate a sizable lunch yesterday," Meowth said, dropping the hostile act in favor of holding his stomach hungrily. Sitting down, he added," And what's worse, who knows how long it will be until we get food. It could take Jess 'n James _days_ to find us. Yer gang ain't no better. They have as much clue of where we are as how to nab candy from a baby."

"_My friends aren't thieves. They could never steal from a baby_," Charmander defended, crossing his arms and staring Meowth down.

"Exactly."

Charmander sighed as he realized what the other was saying. They were stuck down here with no food, and no one had a chance of finding them in under a few days. "_So how will we eat?_"

Meowth looked up and said," I guess we wont." He watched amused as alarm went through his companion. "You obviously have never lived on the streets before," He remarked, thinking back to a time when eating once every three days was a miracle.

"_Well, no. I was raised to be a starter pokémon... And until I was aban... Until Ash had to save me, I've never really gone hungry for over a day._"

"Figures. And you're complaining?" Meowth rolled his eyes, reclining against their jail's wall, his head resting on his arms. Looking at Charmander, he wondered briefly about what the pokémon had been about to say. "What did Ash save you from?"

Charmander looked away uncomfortably, wanting to change topic. Why did Meowth have to ask about _that_? It was something he wanted to forget so badly. The way he had been... the way he had been cast aside, his loyalty abused, it hurt so much.

"_Dying_," He finally answered."_I was... I was abandoned by my trainer, Damian, but he told me to wait by a rock and he would come back. I did as he said, but he never came. I even waited through a rain storm, but he still didn't come. Ash and his friends got me to the Pokémon Center just before my flame went out._"

"Oh, that's deep. I was expecting you got stuck in a tree."

"_Cats get stuck in trees_."

Meowth laughed and agreed," I guess they do." Pausing, he held his breath before hesitantly asking," You... you wont tell anyone about last night, right? Y'know, me helping you n' the story n' all?"

Charmander blinked then shook his head. "_I guess not if you don't want me to. Could you not mention my story then? I don't like to think about it._"

"Of course," Meowth agreed. He may be a liar and a thief, but he kept his promises... so long as they benefitted him. Not mentioning some sob story so his own didn't make the lime light? Definitely worth it. "So whaddya' say we find a way out of here?" His own hunger was eating at him (as ironic as that was) and he wasn't willing to wait around for someone to find him.

"_That sounds good._"

The two tried climbing separately, but alas the pitfall was much to deep, and they both just slid back down to the bottom. Working together hadn't really occured to either of them until Meowth saw the shadow of something flying above them. "Quick, Charmander. Ember," He ordered, pointing at the flying pokémon.

Three small bolts of fire left its mouth, speedily hitting the bird and dropping in to their hole. Charmander looked distressed as he went over to the pidgey.

"Nice shot," Meowth cried out, coming over as well and placing a paw on Charmander's back. "Now we should be able to-"

"_I'm sorry_," he apologized to the struggling pidgey. "_She was minding her own bussiness I shouldn't have hit her. Why would you think to-_"

"Hey, I just said it, you did it. _Anyways_, I'm sure she's fine. Or at least for what we need," Meowth assured his companion, then turning to the pidgey. "You're going to fly us out of here."

Frightened, she fluttered into the air a bit, landing on her feet and cowering away. "_You two scare me...!_" Flapping her wings quickly, she used sand attack and promptly flew away.

"Charmander! Don't let her get awa-"

"_No_," He interrupted angrily, crossing his arms and turning away. No way would he attack a fleeing opponent. He hadn't even meant to strike her in the first place, he had just been caught off guard by Meowth's sudden instruction.

"Annoying little squir- Aggh!" Meowth cringed back from a few small flames blown his way. Luckily for him, they weren't really meant to hit, but they still alarmed him. "Hey, watch it! I'm not the enemy here- well, usually I am, but not right now!"

Charmander ignored Meowth, staring thoughtfully up and down at the wall of their prison. "_Perhaps if we work together we can scale the wall._"

"And howdya' propose we do that?"

This earned Meowth a shrug, but left him thinking. With Charmander to help, could he really get out by himsel- with just the two of them? The rock was still really wet from the rain last night, so it was hard to get his claws to stick in it well, instead just sliding through. "Hey, Charmander, ya think ya could dry out da wall a lil' bit? With your flamethrower or something?"

The lizard pokémon looked at Meowth and nodded. "_Sure._" Getting good distance from his target he advised,"_ I would get out of the way if I were you._" His recommendation was quickly taken and he let out a soft ember to start. He didn't want to fry the rock so it was so brittle it would just crumble beneath their paws. Working his way up to a credible flamethrower, he stopped as it got hot enough in their little alcove, he knew it was dried out.

"Ahh, our own personal furnace," Meowth groused, leaning his paw on the rocky wall, his soft complaint quickly turing to a shriek of pain as the pads of his paw rapidly burning to a crisp. Pulling his paw away, he admitted," Well that wasn't 'xactly the smartest t'ing I eva' done."

"_Sorry-_"

"You didn' do nut'in. Stop apologizing," Meowth hushed the other, already embarrassed at getting injured in such a stupid fashion in front of his adversary. Charmander didn't have to make it worse, it wasn't even his fault anyways (not that would stop Meowth from blaming it on him if he felt like it). "I'm used ta it anyways."

"_Getting burnt?_" Charmander inquired. As far as he knew, Team Rocket didn't have any fire pokémon.

"W-well, no, I meant... It doesn't matter." He'd meant getting hurt. As a part of Team Rocket, that was pretty much the daily life. The part he wasn't used to was overbearing concern; Jessie and James cared, but they didn't show it so openly, or at least they were still concerned with their own well being.

"_Sorr- U-um, is that good...?_" Chamander asked, patting the rock barrier. He just couldn't figure out Meowth. He always seemed halfway between friendly and outright hostile.

" 'M sure it's fine. Jus' gimme a sec," Meowth replied, holding his paw tenderly. Sitting down, the feline sighed and examined the charred flesh and fur. Upon further inspection, the wound wasn't all that bad. It was more of that instant pain that dulled to just an annoyance latter. Speaking of that kind of pain, his shoulder wasn't doing so bad, but rotating his shoulder a little, Meowth noted with dismay that there was missing fur for sure.

Standing up, Meowth padded over the now cooled stone and extended his claws. Time to see if his plan worked. Hooking one set of claws on a craggy wall, he began to climb his way up. "Hah! I knew I could do it!" Reaching higher and higher Meowth felt a huge grin working its way on his face. He was succeeding at what the twerps pokémon couldn't!

"_Watch out!_" Charmander called to his current companion as he scouted the area of rock that was right above Meowth. It looked unstable and- a sharp crack could be heard as Meowth's claws pulled on too loose a ledge and was sent tumbling backwards. Charmander ran to the other's aid, trying desperately to catch him before he collided with the ground. Crumpling to the ground as Meowth landed on him, he protested," _I thought cats always landed on their feet._"

"They say _siempre_, but it's more fifty-fifty," Meowth coughed out, the wind having been knocked out of him. He got off Charmander like lightning, offering a paw to the other while looking away awkwardly. Glancing back to see Charmander looking up at him all wishy-washy, he shook his paw and asked," Well, ya gunna take it or not...?"

Charmander beamed and accepted the gesture, getting to his feet.

" 'Bout time, sheesh."

Charmander was starting to get used to the other's bellicose attitude and already starting to find it humorous. The pokémon was a lot funnier when on your side, Charmander decided.

Stomach growling, Meowth sighed and said," I dunno about you, but I'm wiped out." He collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor of their pitfall holding his stomach.

Charmander reflected on how Meowth hadn't eaten for a few days and whimpered in sympathy. Turning his gaze up at the unreachable sky, Charmander puzzled over how on earth they would ever get out. If a cat who helped build it couldn't climb it, then what good could he do? But looking back at starving, battered, burnt, and disheveled Meowth, Charmander felt he had to at least try again.

"I think Imma take a cat nap," He said to himself, closing his eyes and trying to do just that. It didn't really work though, as he noticed Charmander trying to escalate their obstacle and had to watch. He wasn't doing much better then his earlier attempts to scale the wall, but by watching him try, Meowth got an idea.

Charmander had quite a bit of strength, both lower and upper, but a difficult body shape to climb with. In other words, they were using his strength incorrectly. On the other hand, Meowth was a little... lacking, in the strength department, but had good claws for gripping and was pretty agile.

"I gotta idea!" He jumped to his feet and explained," You gimme a boost and I finish the climb. It'll be a cinch, real piece of cake. Ohh, I could go for some cake..."

"_But how will I get out when you're up there?_" Charmander asked, acknowledging a little distrust at Meowth. They'd been helping each other out for the last while, but when would that end? Meowth with Team Rocket were notorious were for taking advantage of kind gestures and letting the altruistic get the short end of the stick.

Meowth didn't actually have that part planned out yet, but he had been leaning towards "you wont, I'll be running like hell" so far. "I might be able ta find a vine 'er something, maybe food at least. I actually haven't got that far yet," He answered, a far better answer then his previous idea. One that was far more likely to get him help.

"_Food sounds nice. Well let's try,_" Charmander decided. Even if Meowth skipped town and left him to rot, it wouldn't really be any worse than his current predicamen. Well he would be lonely... but the prospect of food made that chance worth it.

"N'kay, just hold me like this," Meowth said, placing the other's short arms to hold one of his feet and the other to support his waist," aaaand 'ere goes nothing!" With all his might, Charmander launched the cat pokémon as high as he could.

Letting out a yowl, Meowth clung to the rocky surface as quickly as he could.

"_Good job, Meowth. You're almost at the top!_"

"I am...?" Meowth asked, squinting his eyes open, realizing he had shut his eyes when hurled at the stone wall. "Wow, whaddya' know, I am!" Tentatively grasping for a bit higher, Meowth hauled himself up another level. Once again and he was nearing the end of this arduous trial.

"_Yay! We did it_," Charmander cheered as Meowth reached the top.

Meowth sat down on the soft grass, taking in the enjoyment of the accomplishment. They'd finally got passed the stupid pitfall.

* * *

><p><strong>This is my (Momo) first attempt at writing for Pokémon, but I'm really happy with how it came out (maybe so far). Please excuse the on and off accent I gave Meowth. I did go back and edit it a lot so it was more consistent. It's just hard to write Meowth with perfect grammar (or at least I can't do it). Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it<strong>


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